Pinner

Pinner

Pinner High Street
Pinner
Pinner shown within Greater London
Population 19,158 [1]
20,737 (2011 Census. Pinner and Pinner South)[2]
OS grid reference TQ115895
• Charing Cross 12.2 miles (19.6 km) SE
London borough
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town PINNER
Postcode district HA5
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
EU Parliament London
UK Parliament
London Assembly

Pinner is an affluent town in the London Borough of Harrow in northwest London, England, 12 miles (19 km) from Charing Cross. It is also in the historical county of Middlesex.

History

Pinner was originally a hamlet, first recorded in 1231 as Pinnora,[3] although the already archaic -ora (meaning 'hill') suggests its origins lie no later than c.900.[4] The name Pinn is shared with the River Pinn, which runs through the middle of Pinner.

The oldest part of the town lies around the fourteenth-century parish church of St. John the Baptist,[5] at the junction of the present day Grange Gardens, The High Street and Church Lane. The earliest surviving private dwelling, East End Farm Cottage, dates from the late fifteenth-century.[6]

The village expanded rapidly between 1923 and 1939 when a series of garden estates, including the architecturally significant Pinnerwood estate conservation area – encouraged by the Metropolitan Railway – grew around its historic core.[7] It was largely from this time onwards that the area (including Hatch End, which forms the northeastern part of Pinner) assumed much of its present-day suburban character. The area is now continuous with neighbouring suburban districts including Rayners Lane and Eastcote.

Pinner contains a large number of homes built in the 1930s Art Deco style, the most grand of which is the Grade II listed Elm Park Court at the junction of West End Lane and Elm Park Road.

Pinner has had an annual street fair held in May since 1336, when it was granted by Royal Charter by Edward III;[8]. Pinner is one of few places in the United Kingdom that still holds an annual fair, and it remains popular.

Governance

Harrow Council has been governed by the Labour Party since 2014. Pinner has two wards, Pinner and Pinner South, each represented by three councillors. Pinner is in the Brent and Harrow constituency for the London Assembly which has been represented since 2008 by Navin Shah (Labour). Since the 2010 general election, Pinner has been part of the new Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner parliamentary constituency represented by Nick Hurd (Conservative).[9]

Pinner is part of the London European Parliament constituency which elects nine MEPs by proportional representation – currently three Conservative, three Labour, one Liberal Democrat, one Green and one UKIP member.[10]

Demography

The lake at Pinner Memorial Park

Pinner is considered to be the wealthy side of the London Borough of Harrow, with wide tree-lined streets, a conservation area, large houses and flat conversions in attractive Edwardian buildings. The information research group Experian, describes the demographic as the "Business Class - The dominant type of people living here are business leaders approaching retirement who live in large family homes in the most prestigious residential suburbs."

Pinner also has the lowest crime rate in the whole of London, with several independent schools and single-sex schools with a prestigious reputation, making it a popular area for affluent families.[11]

Pinner is both a religiously and culturally diverse area, with the ethnic minority population having grown significantly since the 1970s.[12] Pinner ward nonetheless has the highest concentration of people describing themselves as White in the London Borough of Harrow, at 62 per cent of the population in 2011. Pinner South ward has the next highest proportion of White people at 59.4 per cent.[13] A local synagogue and various churches serve the religious needs of the local community.

Parish Church

Pinner's St John the Baptist parish church was consecrated in 1321, but built on the site of an earlier Christian place of worship. The west tower and south porch date from the 15th century.[14]

Transport

Underground

Pinner Underground station is on the Metropolitan line in zone 5.

Buses

Route Start End Operator
183 Golders Green Pinner London Sovereign
H11 Harrow Mount Vernon Hospital London Sovereign
H12 South Harrow Stanmore Metroline
H13 Ruislip Lido Northwood Hills London Sovereign

Neighbouring communities

Notable people

Horatia Nelson, daughter of Lord Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton, lived in Pinner from 1860 until her death in 1881.[15] Brian Lane (1917–1942) grew up in the village. Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore was born in Pinner in 1923.[16] Monster Raving Loony Party leader Screaming Lord Sutch, who lived in nearby South Harrow, is buried in Pinner New Cemetery.[17]

The Poet Laureate Henry James Pye retired to East End House at the end of his career in 1811.[3] Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote Eugene Aram at Pinner Wood House in 1832.[18] Samuel and Isabella Beeton lived on the Woodridings estate between 1856 and 1862, during which Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management was published.[15] The novelist Ivy Compton-Burnett was born in the village in 1884,[19] and the playwright W. S. Gilbert, though he did not live in Pinner, was a magistrate there from 1893 onwards.[20] Another Victorian food writer, Agnes Marshall, whom most credit with the invention of edible ice cream cones, had a country home there and died there in 1905. Twentieth-century figures include the cartoonist William Heath Robinson, who lived in Moss Lane between 1913 and 1918[21] (and now has a museum dedicated to him at West House in Pinner Memorial Park), and the former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen, who writes children's books such as We're Going on a Bear Hunt, lived in Pinner from the time he was born in 1946, until 1962.[22]

Sir Elton John, who was educated at Pinner Wood Junior School, Reddiford School and Pinner County Grammar School, until age 17, when he left just prior to his A Level examinations to pursue a career in the music industry;[23] Gordon waller of Peter and Gordon who lived with his family in the house called Elton, Elm Park Road and went to St Johns prep school before boarding at Westminster public school, composer Leslie Bricusse, best known for his partnership with Anthony Newley, was born in Pinner; songwriter Tony Hatch, composer of the Petula Clark hit "Downtown" and the Neighbours theme, was born here; Bruce Welch, guitarist in The Shadows, lived in Pinner while courting Olivia Newton-John; singer Charlie Dore was born here; and Simon LeBon, vocalist of '80s pop-group Duran Duran, grew up locally and attended the Pinner County Grammar School.[24]

Actor David Suchet and comedian Ronnie Barker were both one-time owners of 17th-century Elmdene in Church Lane;[25] actress Jane March grew up here before moving to the United States;[26] actress Molly Weir, best remembered for her role as the long-running character Hazel the McWitch in the BBC TV series Rentaghost, lived in Pinner until her death in 2004;.[27] Bob Holness, the former host of quiz show Blockbusters lived here.[28]

The politician Sir Rhodes Boyson lived in Pinner; Iraq hostage Norman Kember is a longtime resident of the town;[29] Derek Bell, motor racing driver, was born in Pinner; Olympic fencer Peter Jacobs was born here in 1938, professional snooker player Martin Gould, documentary film-maker Jo Durden-Smith was born here in 1941;[30] pop-musician Kate Nash and Sun journalist Chris Roycroft-Davis are residents.

Daniel Finkelstein was a Pinner resident.[31] Chris Stark and Fearne Cotton are also from Pinner.

Filmography

Pinner fair held in Pinner High Street features in John Betjeman's 1973 BBC film, Metro-Land.[32] The BBC sitcom May to December was set in Pinner, and its exterior shots were videotaped in the High Street.[33] During the 1990s the children's TV series of Aquila was filmed in and around Pinner, particularly at the local Cannon Lane School. Chucklevision, the Children's TV series based on the Chuckle Brothers also filmed in Pinner. The film Nowhere Boy had a number of scenes filmed in Pinner, including outside the Queens Head Pub, Pinner High street,[34] and on Woodhall Gate, which stood in for John Lennon's childhood home. Pinner has also been the setting for the BBC sitcom My Hero and the Channel 4 sitcom The Inbetweeners.[11] Filming for the movie The Theory of Everything took place outside the St John the Baptist Church on Pinner High Street. The 2012 film, May I Kill U? Written and directed by Stuart Urban; starring Kevin Bishop was filmed in Pinner too. [35]

Literature

Edward Lear makes reference to Pinner[36] in More Nonsense Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc:

There was an old person of Pinner,
As thin as a lath, if not thinner;
They dressed him in white,
And roll'd him up tight,
That elastic old person of Pinner.

Sport and leisure

Pinner has a rugby union team, Pinner and Grammarians RFC, a member club of the Rugby Football Union it is the most junior team to have supplied a President to the RFU. It also has a Cricket team, Pinner Cricket Club.Pinner also has a youth football club, Pinner United FC – www.pinnerunitedfc.com. In addition to numerous restaurants and a number of public houses, Pinner also has a thriving amateur theatre group, Pinner Players, who have been performing in the area since 1936 and currently stage productions at Pinner Village Hall off Chapel Lane - www.pinnerplayers.com

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Combined total for the Pinner and Pinner South wards at the 2001 census.
  2. ↑ 2011 Updated Combined total for the Pinner and Pinner South Wards.
  3. 1 2 Clarke, A History of Pinner, p.11
  4. ↑ Clarke, A History of Pinner, p.1
  5. ↑ Clarke, A History of Pinner, p.34. The church was originally a chapel of ease to St Mary's Church in Harrow, and was first mentioned in 1234. It was rebuilt in the early fourteenth-century, and rededicated in 1321. The parish became independent of St Mary's in 1766, when the first perpetual curate was appointed; not until the Wilberforce Act of 1868 did it appoint its first vicar, one William Hind.
  6. ↑ Clarke, A History of Pinner, p.18
  7. ↑ Clarke, A History of Pinner, pp.176–184
  8. ↑ Clarke, A History of Pinner, p.25
  9. ↑ www.statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
  10. ↑ European Parliament official site. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
  11. 1 2 "Pinner Guide". AllInLondon.co.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  12. ↑ Muir, Hugh (8 July 2016). "Black flight: how England's suburbs are changing colour". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  13. ↑ "A look at Harrow's wards: 2011 Census second release". Harrow Council. February 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  14. ↑ Weinreb, Ben and Hibbert, Christopher (1992). The London Encyclopaedia (reprint ed.). Macmillan. p. 745.
  15. 1 2 Clarke, A History of Pinner, p.155
  16. ↑ www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
  17. ↑ www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
  18. ↑ Pinner Local History Society. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
  19. ↑ Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  20. ↑ Views of W. S. Gilbert Archived 25 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  21. ↑ Clarke, A History of Pinner, p.192
  22. ↑ ":: Michael Rosen - The Website ::".
  23. ↑ Elton John official website Archived 15 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  24. ↑ www.yuddy.com. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  25. ↑ Pinner Local History. Retrieved 12 August 2008
  26. ↑ www.tv.com. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
  27. ↑ The Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 7 August 2008.
  28. ↑ BBC Kent: Profile of Bob Holness. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
  29. ↑ 'No word on fate of Iraq peace hostages', The Independent, 12 December 2005. Retrieved 14 August 2005.
  30. ↑ Obituary of Jo Durden-Smith, The Independent, 5 June 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
  31. ↑ The Lord Finkelstein, OBE, Debrett's. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  32. ↑ The Best of Betjeman (2000 ed.). Penguin Books. p. 228.
  33. ↑ Campbell, Mark (28 August 1999). "Torquay: the horrible truth". The Independent. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  34. ↑ Film London. "December 2009 – Pinner High Street". Film London. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  35. ↑ addictedtoeddieblogspot. "October 2013". addictedtoeddieblogspot. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  36. ↑ Lear, Edward (1872). More Nonsense Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc. London: R J Bush.

References

  • Patricia A. Clarke, A History of Pinner, Phillimore, 2004 ISBN 1-86077-287-0
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